Teen Titans: The Judas Contract
| starring = | music = Frederik Wiedmann Lorne Balfe | editing = Christopher D. Lozinski | production companies = | distributor = Warner Home Video | released = | runtime = 84 minutes | country = United States | language = English | budget = $3.5 million | gross = }} 'Teen Titans: The Judas Contract' is a 2017 direct-to-video animated superhero film directed by Sam Liu from a screenplay by Ernie Altbacker based on ''The Judas Contract by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez. It is the twenty-eighth film in the DC Universe Animated Original Movies series, part of DC Animated Movie Universe and the sequel to Justice League vs. Teen Titans (2016). The film features the voices of Christina Ricci, Taissa Farmiga, Miguel Ferrer, Stuart Allan, Brandon Soo Hoo, Jake T. Austin, Kari Wahlgren, Sean Maher, Gregg Henry, and Meg Foster. It marked Ferrer's final film role. This film had its world premiere at WonderCon on March 31, 2017. The film was released through digital download on April 4, 2017, and through home media on April 18, 2017, by Warner Home Video. Additionally in the film, Crispin Freeman, Jason Spisak and Masasa Moyo reprise their respective roles from Young Justice as Roy Harper / Arsenal, Wally West / Kid Flash and Karen Beecher / Bumblebee. Plot Five years ago, the original Teen Titans (consisting of Dick Grayson as Robin, Speedy, Kid Flash, Beast Boy and Bumblebee) rescue Princess Starfire of planet Tamaran from her captors sent by her evil older jealous sister Blackfire who had staged a coup and forcibly took the throne. As she is no longer able to return to her world, the Titans offer her a home on Earth as one of them. In the present, Dick Grayson - now known as Nightwing - rejoins the Teen Titans to track down a terrorist cult led by Brother Blood, who plans on capturing the team to absorb each of their unique abilities with a machine that he has tested on Jericho; the latter is later executed by Brother Blood's lover and assistant; Mother Mayhem. To speed up the progress with his development, Brother Blood hires the mercenary Deathstroke to deliver the Titans to him; Deathstroke, who survived his apparent death a few years ago, seeks revenge on Damian Wayne - the new Robin - for replacing him as Ra's al Ghul's heir before betraying the League of Assassins. Deathstroke monitors the Titans through his double agent Terra, who joined the team a year prior and whom he rescued after her parents turned their whole village against her and tortured her. When Damian grows suspicious of Terra's behavior and starts tracking her, he is confronted by Deathstroke; they fight until Terra subdues and captures Damian, thus revealing her affiliation to Deathstroke. Terra initially acts cold and distant towards the other Titans despite their welcoming attitude, but eventually warms up to them. During the night celebrating her one-year anniversary with the Titans, she shares a tender moment with Beast Boy and kisses him; they gradually form a relationship together. While attending a convention to do a podcast with filmmaker Kevin Smith, Beast Boy is captured by Deathstroke; Blue Beetle is snatched from the soup kitchen where he works; and Starfire is kidnapped at the apartment she shares with Nightwing. Meanwhile, Terra captures Raven at the Titan's headquarters. Nightwing soon learns about the conspiracy before Deathstroke ambushes him. Outmatched, he manages to escape by faking his own death. Terra reveals herself as a double agent to the captured Titans when she and Deathstroke bring them to Brother Blood, who intends to become a godlike figure by using the machine to absorb the Titans' powers. However, since Deathstroke had failed to capture Nightwing, the machine cannot operate properly without a sixth Titan; in response, he betrays Terra by allowing Brother Blood to apprehend her - thus completing the deal between them. With his followers and Deathstroke present, Brother Blood proceeds to commence draining the Titans of their powers until Nightwing surprisingly intervenes. After rescuing the Titans, Nightwing and Robin fight Deathstroke while the others battle Brother Blood - who has absorbed all of their powers. The Titans struggle against the villains until Terra intervenes, furiously attacking Deathstroke for his betrayal while causing Brother Blood to get overpowered. The battle ends with Brother Blood being depowered by Raven unleashing her inner fury as a demon and then while Deathstroke is buried underneath multiple rocks thrown by Terra. Brother Blood is then shot and killed by Mother Mayhem to prevent him from being captured by the Titans. Too ashamed to face her former allies after betraying their trust, Terra decides to bring down the entire area. Beast Boy attempts to assist Terra in escaping the crumbling fortress, but Terra pushes him back and is buried underneath multiple layers of rubble. Beast Boy digs her up, and she dies in his arms. In the epilogue, Beast Boy goes on Kevin Smith's podcast and talks about the Titans with the host. He mentions that the team has a "wonderful new member" and that he will always miss Terra. In a post-credits scene, Jericho is shown to have survived the bullet Mother Mayhem shot at him earlier. Voice cast * Stuart Allan as Damian Wayne / Robin * Taissa Farmiga as Rachel Roth / Raven * Brandon Soo Hoo as Garfield Logan / Beast Boy * Jake T. Austin as Jaime Reyes / Blue Beetle * Kari Wahlgren as Koriand'r / Starfire * Sean Maher as Dick Grayson / Nightwing * Christina Ricci as Tara Markov / Terra * Miguel Ferrer as Slade Wilson / Deathstroke * Gregg Henry as Sebastian Blood / Brother Blood * Meg Foster as Mother Mayhem * Maria Canals-Barrera as Bianca Reyes, Titans Tower Computer * Crispin Freeman as Roy Harper / Arsenal , Scientist * Masasa Moyo as Karen Beecher / Bumblebee , Traci * Kevin Smith as himself * Jason Spisak as Wally West / Kid Flash , Bryce Peterson * David Zayas as Alberto Reyes Additional voices by David Kaye. The actor/actress's voice role is reprised from Young Justice. Production An adaptation of The Judas Contract was planned as the third in the DC Universe Animated Original Movies series, to be released after Superman: Doomsday (2007) and Justice League: The New Frontier (2008), however, this was later shelved. It was to be based on 1984's "The Judas Contract" story featured in Tales of the Teen Titans #42–44, and Teen Titans Annual #3 by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez. Warner Bros. Animation's writer/producer Bruce Timm confirmed in April 2010 that there were no current plans to revive the project. In July 2016, however, Warner Bros. announced that the project had officially been resurfaced as Teen Titans: The Judas Contract and would serve as the sequel to Justice League vs. Teen Titans. In January 2017, it was announced that Farmiga, Austin, Wahlgren, Soo Hoo, Allan and Maher, would reprise their roles, and Christina Ricci and Miguel Ferrer would join the cast as Terra and Deathstroke, respectively. Later on the same month, Ferrer died from throat cancer. Distribution Marketing In January 2017, the first promotional images from the film were released By The Hollywood Reporter. In early February 2017, the first official trailer for Teen Titans: The Judas Contract was released, as well as an exclusive clip from the film. Release The film had its world premiere at the Los Angeles WonderCon on March 31, 2017. Teen Titans: The Judas Contract was then released via digital download on April 4, 2017, and was released straight-to-DVD and Blu-ray on April 18, 2017. Reception On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 83% based on 6 reviews, with an average rating of 7.56/10. Jesse Schedeen of IGN gave the film a 6.2/10 rating, writing, "The film loses too much of what makes the source material memorable, while the limited run-time prevents the writers from fully taking advantage of the team dynamic or properly fleshing out the villains." Julian Roman of MovieWeb called the film a "marked improvement" over Justice League vs. Teen Titans and wrote, "The film slickly integrates adult themes into its entertaining plotline. The Judas Contract is action packed and moves at a fast pace. The Teen Titans are certainly on better footing here." It earned $2,701,733 from domestic home video sales. References External links * * [http://www.worldsfinestonline.com/WF/dcuam/teentitansjudascontract/ Teen Titans: The Judas Contract] at worldsfinestonline.com Category:American films Category:English-language films Category:2010s American animated films Category:2010s direct-to-video animated superhero films Category:2017 animated films Category:2017 films Category:2017 direct-to-video films Category:Animated action films Category:2010s animated superhero films Category:DC Animated Movie Universe Category:Teen Titans in other media Category:Warner Bros. Animation animated films Category:Films directed by Sam Liu Category:Teen superhero films Category:Film scores by Frederik Wiedmann Category:Film scores by Lorne Balfe Category:Film scores by Andrew Kawczynski Category:Film scores by Sven Faulconer Category:Film scores by Kazuma Jinnouchi Category:Film scores by Dieter Hartmann Category:Film scores by Max Aruj Category:Film scores by Steffen Thum